Palestinian envoy says U.S. recognition of Jerusalem is 'declaring war'

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LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump would effectively be making a declaration of war if he recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Palestinians’ chief representative to Britain said on Wednesday.

“If he says what he is intending to say about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, it means a kiss of death to the two state solution,” Manuel Hassassian said in a BBC radio interview.

“He is declaring war in the Middle East, he is declaring war against 1.5 billion Muslims (and) hundreds of millions of Christians that are not going to accept the holy shrines to be totally under the hegemony of Israel,” Hassassian added.

Senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Trump will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Wednesday and set in motion the relocation of the U.S. embassy to the city.

Reporting by Costas Pitas, writing by David Milliken; editing by Guy Faulconbridge